But won’t happen immediately says new chairman
By Lorne Chambers | Editor
Last week City of Folly Beach Mayor Tim Goodwin requested to meet with Mike Seekings, the chairman of the Charleston Area Transit Authority (CARTA) about the possibility of adding Folly Beach to the bus system’s route. Seekings, who has served on the board of CARTA for six years, just became its chair about a month ago. He says that adding Folly and other area beach communities is something he would like to see occur on his watch, but also said that it is not imminent.
“It’s part of our service area and its cleary something we’re thinking about,” said Seekings, who said CARTA is facing more pressing issues at the moment, like the purchasing of new busses and getting its finances straightened out. Seekings says that CARTA only sees sees about 30 cents on every dollar it gets from passengers. He hopes that adding beach routes will not only provide what he believes to be a needed service for these areas, but also something that makes financial sense for CARTA.
A previous pilot program did offer bus service to Folly Beach, but was largely under utilized and it was eventually scrapped. Even still, Seekings would like to revisit the possibility of CARTA offering service to Folly Beach and other beach communities, reiterating that if it were to happen, it would likely be down the road.
